Professional Article 03 | English Teaching Aids in Uzbekistan

Strengths:

1. The writer has clearly stated the purpose of the article in the introduction.
2. The writer has used a range of up-to-date sources as references in the article.
3. The writer has established cohesion in the article by using appropriate signposting expressions and cohesive devices, e.g., To begin…, However, Thus, etc.
4. Most paragraphs in the article are well-structured and contain evidence from the previous research.

Weaknesses:

1. The writer has started the article with a quotation, which is not recommended in academic writing.
2. The article contains a number of claims that are not precise and clear enough and need revision.
3. There are a number of wordy and redundant expressions in this article which need to be deleted or replaced with more concise alternative expressions.
4. Too many direct quotations have been used in this article. The writer should have paraphrased or summarised some of these quotations and used accurate in-text references, i.e., citing only author’s last name and year of publication, but not the full title of the article.

Plain Text Essay
Annotated Essay

Professional Article Three:

Key to Successful Writing of Research Paper is Understanding the Structure

Many students agree that research writing is the most complex of all writing tasks. The challenge can make second language writers particularly nervous and frustrated. It takes time to understand the genre of research writing and even more time to carefully research a selected topic. In the process of research writing students must read a great deal of literature and invest immense amounts of time into gathering materials and ideas.

Key Words: Successful Writing, Second Language Writer
Brown (2007) in Teaching By Principles, An Interaction Approach to Language Pedagogy points out that writing is not only the system of signs or “graphic representations of spoken language”, writing requires the abilities completely different from speaking and other skills.
One of the compulsory requirements for the undergraduate students in state universities of Uzbekistan, where future English language teachers are trained, is to produce a graduation qualification paper (GQP). The Graduation Qualification Paper is a written research work that is equivalent to a bachelor’s thesis in other countries. It is conducted by a Year 4 students on a teaching problems in methodology. These papers used to be written in a student’s native language, but are now written in Academic English. As a teacher who had experience in supervising students’ papers, I would like to address mutual concerns both of educators and students, their mutual need for further learning and development in research writing.

Research paper requires from student proficiency in language and high level of independence. Regarding the level of English in writing research paper by the end of Year 4, curriculum demands from undergraduate students to achieve C1 level according to state curriculum which is based on CEFR. (Writing syllabus, 2012). However being competent in English does not mean performing a good academic writing skills. It should be taken into account that not only EFL students here but generally research writing is considered as something difficult to achieve on undergraduate level for L1 and L2 ESL students as well. Breeze (2012) in Rethinking Academic Writing Pedagogy for the European University finds that more than half of European students who are competent in language finds writing challenging because of “new intellectual demands of university coupled with unfamiliar linguistic demands”. To go further into what is the new demands related to academic writing, we can define them as a certain requirements in quality and overall structure of research paper.

In the way of writing a good research paper students usually encounter questions related to understanding its structure and purpose. Students concerns include how to accomplish accurate, well structured research paper with appropriate words selection and genre in a one year period, whereas English Language Teachers questions themselves how to help student, what materials to read, what activities to practice in the classroom as they don’t know how to write research paper themselves.

To begin our discussion we have to clearly understand that graduation qualification paper is a research paper (RP). According to Lotte (2013), RP must have the same criteria and requirements as an academic text which has a format of professional genre that is produced by the teachers for “academic progress and research”. The best model for students can be research article. (Lotte, 2013).

A closer look at the evidence that even advanced users of language may not always have a good research writing skills shows that writing research paper requires a knowledge of its constructing as well as writing skills. As Brown agrees with Chen that any king of writing needs special procedure to think, to draft, to revise and skills, which can be developed naturally. Thus second language students engaged in research writing benefit from process led to practicing writing. Brown (2007) argues that there is advantages for students in given time for them to understand the content and message of writing, however in the past teachers oriented on product of students writing and mainly focused on accuracy, vocabulary organization and mechanics. Writing research paper takes place only in Year 4 with other compulsory specialized subjects, between the terms students are engaged in examinations and the last term in teaching Practice, where they should fulfill collecting the data for providing evidence for their research. Curriculum does not judge students very strictly with their performances but I as other my colleagues striving towards: Do they have enough time and practice to understand the process of writing? Are they provided with enough comments to revise and produce drafts of their research writing? How does the universally academic research skills develop and can our students’ research papers match with what students produce internationally. To enter the international academic community or “academic context” or “academic tribes” or “discourse community” (Owtram, 2010) we need to meet the requirements of a good research writing, as good and valuable ideas are available only through writing. In “Evaluating research quality” of Victoria transport Institute the concept of research is presented as “investigated ideas” which explores useful knowledge. “It is personally rewarding and socially beneficial. Good research determines what is overall truth, requires judgments, and carefully evaluates information source and good research is careful to identify uncertainties and avoid exaggerated claims”.

Present standards in higher education in Uzbekistan require teachers, scholars to be prepared for professional academic conversation and also to train future academicians for effective linguistic communication. Historically teaching language even 10 years ago was focused on grammar translation methods. As it widely known, this methods oriented on learning grammar rule and learning vocabulary in isolated context to translate texts from one language into another (Brown, 2007). Grammar translation method had nothing to do with developing communicative skills and therefore writing as a skill was neglected.

References:

Breeze, R. (2012).Rethinking academic writing pedagogy for the European university. New York, NL: Rodopi. Retrieved from http://www.ebrary.com
Brown, H. D. (2007). Teaching by principles: An interaction approach to language pedagogy. New York. Pearson Education.
Litman , T. (2012).Evaluating research quality. Guidelines for sholaship.Retrieved Victoria Transport Policy Institute. Web-site: http://www.vtpi.org.
Lotte, R., Peter, S. J., & Signe, S. (2013). The Good Paper : A Handbook for Writing Papers in Higher Education (1). Frederiksberg, DENMARK: Samfundslitteratur. Retrieved from http://www.ebrary.com
Owtram, Nicolaa T., (2010) Linguistic Insights: Pragmatics of academic writing : a relevance approach to the analysis of research article introductions. (Vol.17 pp.42-43) Berne, IN, USA: Peter Lang AG. Retrieved from http://www.ebrary.com
Writing syllabus, (2012). Uzbekistan. The Ministry of Higher and Secondary Specialized Education.

Professional Article Three:

Key to Successful Writing of Research Paper is Understanding the Structure

Legend:

Idea Development Academic Style Grammatical Accuracy Lexical Appropriacy Source Use Macrostructure Spelling Accuracy Punctuation Accuracy

Many students agree that research writing is the most complex of all writing tasks. The challenge can make second language writers particularly nervous and frustrated. It takes time to understand the genre of research writing and even more time to carefully research a selected topic. In the process of research writingIssue No. 1: The comma is needed after prepositional phrase at the beginning of the sentence.
Click here for Comma issue students must read a great deal of literature and invest immense amounts of time into gathering materials and ideas.

Key WordsIssue No. 2: Keywords should be spelled as one word.: Successful Writing, Second Language WriterIssue No. 3: Four to six keywords are usually included in the keyword list. The writer could have considered including at least two more keywords.

Brown (2007)Issue No. 4: The paper should not begin with a citation, especially with a direct quotation. in Teaching By PrinciplesIssue No. 5: No title of the article should appear in the in-text citation; the author’s last name and the year of publication should only be given.
Click here for In-text Citations issue, An Interaction Approach to Language Pedagogy points out that writing is not only the system of signs or “graphic representations of spoken language”, writing requires theIssue No. 6: No definite article the should be used before the noun abilities in this sentence.
Click here for Definite Article issue abilitiesIssue No. 7: The relative pronoun which and the auxiliary verb are needed in this sentence. completely different from speaking and other skillsIssue No. 8: The writer should have been more precise by clearly saying what skills they are referring to in this sentence..
One of the compulsory requirements for theIssue No. 9: No definite article the should be used before the noun undergraduate students.
Click here for Definite Article issue undergraduate students in state universities ofIssue No. 10: The preposition in should be used in this sentence. Uzbekistan, where future English language teachers are trained, is to produce a graduation qualification paper (GQP). The Graduation Qualification Paper is a Issue No. 11: The phrase a piece of should be added in this sentence in order to make it clearer.written research work that is equivalent to a bachelor’s thesis in other countries. It is conducted by aIssue No. 12: No indefinite article a should be used in this sentence.
Click here for Indefinite Article issue Year 4 students on a teaching problemsIssue No. 13: The singular form of the noun problem should be used after the indefinite article a in this sentence. inIssue No. 14: The preposition in should be replaced by the conjunction or in this sentence. methodology. These papers used to be written in a student’s native language, but are now written in Academic English. As a teacher who hadIssue No. 15: The present simple tense is needed in this sentence.
Click here for Tense issue experience in supervising students’ papers, I would like to address mutual concerns both of educators and students, their mutualIssue No. 16: The word mutual should not be used in order to avoid repeating it twice in the same sentence. need for further learning and development in research writing.

Research paperIssue No. 17: The phrase Writing should be added to make the statement clear.
Issue No. 18: The indefinite article a needs to be used before a singular noun phrase research paper.
Click here for Indefinite Article issue requires from student proficiency in language and high level of independenceIssue No. 19: The word order needs to be changed in this sentence.
Issue No. 20: The word order needs to be changed in this sentence.
Issue No. 21: The indefinite article a needs to be used before a noun phrase high proficiency.
Click here for Indefinite Article issue
Issue No. 22: The adjective academic should be used before the noun independence to make the statement more precise.. Regarding the level of English in writing research paper by the end of Year 4, curriculum demandsIssue No. 23: The definite article the is needed before the noun phrase curriculum demands.
Click here for Definite Article issue fromIssue No. 24: The pronoun that needs to be used in this sentence. undergraduate students toIssue No. 25: The use of to should be avoided before the pronoun achieve in this sentence. achieve C1Issue No. 26: The claim needs to be made more precise by adding a phrase at least.
Issue No. 27: The indefinite article a is needed before a singular noun phrase C1 level in this sentence.
Click here for Indefinite Article issue
Issue No. 31: A reliable source of information on the CEFR should have been cited here. levelIssue No. 28: The abbreviation CEFR needs to explained when used for the first time in the article. according to state curriculumIssue No. 29: The definite article the is needed before the noun phrase state curriculum.
Click here for Definite Article issue which is based on CEFRIssue No. 30: The clause is redundant and should no longer appear in the sentence.
Click here for Redundancy issue. (Writing syllabus, 2012). HoweverIssue No. 32: The comma needs to be used after the introductory word at the beginning of the sentence.
Click here for Comma issue being competent in English does not meanIssue No. 33: The adverb necessarily needs to be added here in order to add some mitigation to the claim.
Click here for Hedging issue performingIssue No. 34: A more appropriate verb having should be used in this sentence. a good academic writing skillsIssue No. 35: No indefinite article a should be used a plural noun phrase in this sentence.
Click here for Indefinite Article issue
Issue No. 36: It is not entirely clear what the writer intended to say in this sentence.. It should be taken into account that not only EFL students hereIssue No. 37: It is not clear what the writer was referring to when using the word here in this sentence. but generally research writing is considered as something difficult to achieve onIssue No. 38: The preposition at needs to be used in this sentence.
Issue No. 39: The indefinite article an is needed before a singular noun phrase in this sentence.
Click here for Indefinite Article issue undergraduate level for L1 and L2 ESL students as well. Breeze (2012) in Rethinking Academic Writing Pedagogy for the European UniversityIssue No. 40: No title of the article should appear in the in-text citation; the author’s last name and the year of publication should only be given.
Click here for In-text Citations issue finds that more than half of European students who are competent in languageIssue No. 41: The indefinite article a is needed before a singular noun language in this sentence.
Click here for Indefinite Article issue findsIssue No. 42: The plural form of the noun find needs to be used in this sentence to establish subject-verb agreement. writing challenging because of “new intellectual demands of university coupled with unfamiliar linguistic demands”Issue No. 43: The page number(s) should have been included for a direct quotation.. To go further into what is the new demandsIssue No. 44: The word order needs to be changed in this sentence.
Issue No. 45: The singular form of the verb to be is needed to establish subject-verb agreement in the sentence. related to academic writing, we can define them as a certain requirements in quality and overall structure of research paperIssue No. 46: The plural form of the noun phrase research papers should be used here..

In the way of writing a good research paperIssue No. 47: The statement is a bit wordy and needs revision.
Click here for Wordiness issue studentsIssue No. 48: The capital letter S is needed in the word Students which now appears at the beginning of the sentence. usually encounter questions related to understanding itsIssue No. 49: The definite article the is needed in this sentence.
Click here for Definite Article issue structure and purposeIssue No. 50: The phrase of research papers is needed at the end of the sentence to make it clearer.. Students concerns include howIssue No. 51: The structure of the sentence needs some revision. to accomplish accurate, well structured research paperIssue No. 52: The indefinite article an is needed before a singular noun phrase in this sentence.
Click here for Indefinite Article issue
Issue No. 53: The hyphen is needed in the word well-structured.
Click here for Comma issue with appropriate words selection and genreIssue No. 54: The comma needs to be used to set off the interrupter phrase in the middle of the sentence.
Click here for Comma issue
Issue No. 55: The sentence needs to be divided into two shorter sentences to avoid a run-on sentence. in a one year period, whereas English Language TeachersIssue No. 56: The words language teachers in the phrase English language teachers do not need to be capitalised. questionsIssue No. 57: The preposition on needs to be used after question in this sentence. themselves how to help studentIssue No. 58: The plural form of the noun students is needed in this sentence., what materials to readIssue No. 59: A more appropriate verb set needs to be used in this sentence., what activities to practice in the classroom as they don’t knowIssue No. 60: The claim needs to be mitigated by using an appropriate hedging expression often.
Click here for Hedging issue
Issue No. 61: The full of the verb do not know should be used instead of the contracted form don’t know. how to write research paper themselves.

To begin our discussionIssue No. 62: The comma needs to be used after the introductory phrase at the beginning of the sentence.
Click here for Comma issue we have to clearly understand that graduation qualification paper is a research paper (RP).Issue No. 63: The statement is not entirely clear and needs some revision. According to Lotte (2013), RP must have the same criteria and requirements as an academic text which has a format of professional genre that is produced by the teachers for “academic progress and research”. The best model for students can be research article.Issue No. 64: The writer should have been more precise by clearly saying what model they are talking about. (Lotte, 2013)Issue No. 65: The writer should not have given the name of the author and the year of publication in this sentence because these have already been given in the previous sentence.
Click here for In-text Citations issue.

A closer look at the evidence that even advanced users of language may not always have a good research writing skills shows that writing research paperIssue No. 66: The indefinite article a is needed before a singular noun phrase in this sentence.
Click here for Indefinite Article issue requires a knowledge of its constructingIssue No. 67: The word form construction should be used in this sentence. as well as writing skills. AsIssue No. 68: No As conjunction is needed at the beginning of the sentence.
Click here for In-text Citations issue BrownIssue No. 69:
The year of publication needs to be included in the in-text citation.Click here for In-text Citations issue
Issue No. 70: The year of publication needs to be included in the in-text citation. Also, the source by Chen is missing in the references and needs to be included.
Click here for In-text Citations issue agreesIssue No. 71: The preposition in needs to be used in this sentence. with Chen that any kingIssue No. 72: The word needs to be spelled as kind rather than king. of writing needs special procedureIssue No. 73: The adverb specifically needs to be added to make it clear that the writer is illustrating their point. to think, to draft, to revise and skills, which can be developed naturallyIssue No. 74: The clause the skills, which can be developed naturally is redundant in this sentence.
Click here for Redundancy issue
Issue No. 75: The conjunction and needs to be added before the last item on the list.. Thus second language students engaged in research writing benefit from process led to practicing writing.Issue No. 76: The statement is not entirely clear and needs revision. Brown (2007) argues that there isIssue No. 77: The plural form of the verb to be is needed here in order to establish subject-verb agreement in the sentence. advantages for students in givenIssue No. 78: The sentence structure needs some revision by adding the verb being. time for themIssue No. 79: The phrase for them is redundant in this sentence.
Click here for Redundancy issue to understand the content and messageIssue No. 80: The phrase how to best communicate should be added to make the sentence clearer. of writing, howeverIssue No. 82: The comma needs to be used after the introductory word at the beginning of the sentence.
Click here for Comma issue in the pastIssue No. 83: The comma needs to be used to set off the prepositional phrase in the middle of the sentence.
Click here for Comma issue teachersIssue No. 84: The auxiliary verb is needed in this sentence. orientedIssue No. 85: The claim needs to be mitigated by using an appropriate expression more.
Click here for Hedging issue on productIssue No. 86: The definite article the needs to be used before the noun product in this sentence.
Click here for Definite Article issue of students writing and mainly focused on accuracy, vocabularyIssue No. 87: The comma needs to be used to separate one of the items on the list of items.
Click here for Comma issue organization and mechanics.Issue No. 81: The sentence needs to be divided into two shorter sentences to avoid a run-on sentence.
Click here for Run-on Sentence issue Writing research paper takes place only in Year 4 with other compulsory specialized subjects, between the terms students are engaged in examinations and the last term in teaching PracticeIssue No. 88: The word practice does not need to be capitalised., where they should fulfill collecting the dataIssue No. 89: A more appropriate phrase conduct data collection should be used in this sentence. for providing evidenceIssue No. 90: The phrase for providing evidence is redundant in this sentence.
Click here for Redundancy issue for their research. CurriculumIssue No. 91: The definite article the is needed before the noun curriculum in this sentence.
Click here for Definite Article issue
Issue No. 92: The word curriculum no longer needs to be capitalised because it does not appear at the beginning of the sentence. does not judge students very strictly withIssue No. 93: The preposition on needs to be used after the verb judge in this sentence. their performances but I as other my colleaguesIssue No. 94: The sentence structure needs some revision. striving towardsIssue No. 95: The statement needs to be made clearer and more complete.: Do theyIssue No. 96: It is not entirely clear who the writer is referring to in this question. have enough time and practice to understand the process of writing? Are theyIssue No. 97: It is not entirely clear who the writer is referring to in this question. provided with enough comments to revise and produce drafts of their research writing? How doesIssue No. 98: The plural form of the verb needs to be used to establish subject-verb agreement in the sentence. the universallyIssue No. 99: The phrase the universally is redundant in this sentence.
Click here for Redundancy issue academic research skills develop and can our students’ research papers match with what students produce internationally.Issue No. 100: It is not entirely clear what the writer intended to say in this sentence. To enter the international academic community or “academic context” or “academic tribes” or “discourse community”Issue No. 101: The statement is wordy and needs revision.
Click here for Wordiness issue (Owtram, 2010) we need to meet the requirements of a good research writing, as good and valuable ideas are availableIssue No. 104: A more appropriate adjective communicable is needed in this sentence. onlyIssue No. 105: The claim needs to be mitigated by using a less strong word chiefly.
Click here for Hedging issue through writing. In “Evaluating research quality” of Victoria transport InstituteIssue No. 106: Neither the title of the article nor the details of the website need to appear in text. Only the author’s last name and year of publication should be used in text.
Click here for In-text Citations issue the concept of research is presented as “investigated ideas” which explores useful knowledge. “It is personally rewarding and socially beneficial. Good research determines what is overall truth, requires judgments, and carefully evaluates information source and good research is careful to identify uncertainties and avoid exaggerated claims”.

Present standards in higher education in Uzbekistan require teachers,Issue No. 108: The conjunction and is needed between the two items on the list.
Click here for Comma issue scholars to be prepared for professional academic conversation and also to train future academiciansIssue No. 109: The non-existent noun academicians needs to be replaced with the noun academics. for effective linguistic communication. Historically teaching languageIssue No. 110: The word order needs to be changed in this sentence. even 10 years agoIssue No. 111: The interrupter phrase needs to be set off with a comma in the middle of the sentence.
Click here for Comma issue was focused on grammar translation methodsIssue No. 112: The definite article the needs to be used before the noun phrase grammar translation method.
Click here for Definite Article issue
Issue No. 113: The hyphen is needed in the noun phrase grammar-translation method.. As itIssue No. 115: The auxiliary verb is needed in this sentence. widely known, this methodsIssue No. 114: The singular form of the noun needs to be used in this sentence before this is one method rather than many. orientedIssue No. 116: The auxiliary verb is needed in this sentence. onIssue No. 117: The preposition to needs to be used instead of the preposition on in this sentence. learning grammarIssue No. 118: The adjective grammatical is needed to modify the noun rules in this sentence. ruleIssue No. 119: The plural form of the noun rules is needed in this sentence. and learning vocabulary in isolated contextIssue No. 120: The sentence structure needs some revision. to translate texts from one language into another (Brown, 2007). Grammar translation methodIssue No. 121: The definite article the needs to be used before the noun phrase grammar-translation method.
Click here for Definite Article issue hadIssue No. 122: The present simple tense is needed in this sentence.
Click here for Tense issue nothing to do with developing communicative skills andIssue No. 123: The comma needs to be used before the conjunction and in a compound sentence.
Click here for Comma issue thereforeIssue No. 124: The interrupter word therefore needs to be set off with a comma in the middle of the sentence.
Click here for Comma issue writing as a skill was neglected.

References:Issue No. 125: A number of observations with the use of sources have been made in this article: 1. Although writer has used a number of sources from books and websites, they should have included some sources from academic journals too;
2. The sources are arranged in alphabetical order in accordance with the last names of the authors, which is good;
3. The writer should have been more accurate and consistent with the use of sources.
First of all, in one of the sources, i.e., Owtram (2010), the author’s first name rather than first name initial is given. Secondly, the writer should have used punctuation consistently.
The full stop should be used after the author’s name before the year of publication.
However, in two sources, i.e., Owtram, Nicolaa T., (2010) and Writing syllabus, (2012), the comma has been used instead.
Finally, the writer should have capitalised words in the titles consistently.
For example, in Lotte, Peter, & Signe (2013), every word in the title is capitalised while in the other sources, e.g., Breeze (2012),
only the first word in the title and the first word after the colon are capitalised.
4. A hanging indentation should be used in the References, i.e., every line after the first line should be moved a few spaces to the right.

Activities:

Question 1:
What is the main issue with the abstract of the article?

A: It fails to clearly outline the purpose of the paperCorrect: Although the abstract contains some background information on research writing, the writer has failed to include a clear purpose of the article, which could start as follows: “The purpose of this paper is to …”

B: It does not contain any reference to literatureIncorrect: This is not an issue with this abstract. Abstracts do not have to contain any reference to literature. All research-based evidence should appear in the main body of the article.

C: It is not relevant to the topic of the articleIncorrect: This is not a problem with this abstract because it does contain some relevant information. However, it is not complete because it is missing a clear statement of purpose.

Question 2:
Identify a common problem with the citations by Brown (2007), which appears in Paragraph 1 and Breeze (2012), which is located in Paragraph 3 of the article.

A: Both are direct quotations, and direct quotations should never be used in academic writingIncorrect: Although direct quotations should be used sparingly in academic writing, this is not the main problem in this particular case. Direct quotations can be sometimes used in writing as long as they are well-linked to the previous or following text in the paragraph.

B: Both citations are from outdated and unreliable sources of information and should be avoidedIncorrect: Neither of these two sources are particularly outdated. Both were published within the last 10 years; the source by Breeze (2012) even within the last 5 years, which is still current. In terms of reliability, these sources come from books, which are generally reliable sources of information and can be used in academic writing.

C: Both citations contain the full title of the article which should not be included in-textCorrect: The full title of the article should appear only in the References at the end of the article. Only the author’s name and year of publication need to appear in-text.

Question 3:
Identify a problem with this direct quotation in paragraph 6 of the article: “It is personally rewarding and socially beneficial. Good research determines what is overall truth, requires judgments, and carefully evaluates information source and good research is careful to identify uncertainties and avoid exaggerated claims”.

A: The writer has included the quotation marks; thus, it is accurately usedIncorrect: Although the writer has included the quotation marks, they failed to include the author’s name and year of publication.

B: The writer has not included the author’s name and year of publicationCorrect: This is the main problem with this quotation. The writer has not given the name of the author and the year of publication.

C: The writer has not indented the quotationIncorrect: This is not a problem with this particular quotation because it is shorter than three lines or 50 words. Normally, direct quotations longer than three lines or 50 words need to be indented.

Question 4:
Why should the quotation from Owtram (2010) not be used in paragraph 6?

A: Because it contains some redundant informationCorrect: This quotation contains some unnecessary information which has already been mentioned in the same sentence, i.e., “academic community.”

B: Because the direct quotation should be avoided in the middle of the sentenceIncorrect: The direct quotation can appear anywhere in the sentence, including the middle of the sentence.

C: Because this quotation is lacking important referencing detailsIncorrect: The quotation contains all essential referencing details including the author’s name and year of publication.